Made In America: Superior Industries Completes Transfer Of Local Jobs To Mexico
by March 15, 2015 12:32 am 238 views
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SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES COMPLETES TRANSFER OF LOCAL JOBS TO MEXICO
Yes, that sucking sound you hear is Arkansas manufacturing jobs going to Mexico. In its fourth quarter earnings report this past week, Superior Industries quietly disclosed that hundreds of Northwest Arkansas jobs have been transferred to the Mexican border city of Chihuahua.
Superior’s so-called “Plant 15,” a 260,000-square-foot, a $35 million state-of-the-art facility located in Mexico that is in the final stages of customer approvals and process validation, expects to begin shipments of custom wheels by April. When in full production, the plant will hire 400 workers capable of producing 2 million aluminum wheels a year.
In July 2014, Superior announced it would lay off 500 Northwest Arkansas workers as it consolidated and resized its workforce and factories.
At its peak more than a decade ago, Superior employed more than 2,600 Arkansas workers in Fayetteville, Rogers, Heber Springs and West Memphis. All of those plants have now been mothballed except the company’s facility in Fayetteville, now down to 600 workers after peaking at 1,700 in 2003.
“We successfully transitioned production from our Rogers, Ark., facility to other, more cost-efficient facilities, began the launch of our newly constructed facility in Mexico, strengthened our management team and board of directors, and began the process of enhancing our competitiveness,” Superior Industries CEO Don Stebbins said in the company’s fourth quarter earnings report.
‘INNOVATION SUMMIT’ TO HELP MANUFACTURERS STAY AHEAD OF TECH CURVE
Central Arkansas will play host next month to a two-day, first-of-its-kind Arkansas Manufacturing Innovation Summit, where companies across the state will be able to spotlight cutting edge manufacturing innovations and technologies, organizers say.
The summit, hosted by Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions (AMS), will be held at the new Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub in North Little Rock on April 29-30. The event will happen just days ahead of the first Maker Faire festival ever to be held in Central Arkansas in conjunction with the Argenta Arkansas Festival on May 2.
PEDS NEW $16 MILLION PLANT PART OF WAL-MART ONSHORING EFFORT
The opening of a $16 million Peds Legwear plant in Hildebran, N.C., is the latest activity promoted by Wal-Mart as proof of its ongoing commitment to return manufacturing jobs to the United States. Wednesday’s (March 11) opening even included the attendance of U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan Selig.
“There has never been a better time to expand operations in the United States, given our attractive consumer market, thriving culture of innovation, and talented workforce,” Selig said. Read more here.
ARKANSAS’ GROWING AEROSPACE, DEFENSE SECTOR SPOTLIGHTED AT TWO-DAY FORUM
There were more than 250 registered attendees this week at the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Summit, where Central Arkansas officials were able to spotlight the state’s rapidly expanding aerospace and defense sector before an audience of local, regional and national leaders, organizers said.
The two-day conference, held on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in west Little Rock, included a job fair and tradeshow, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a keynote luncheon presentation that included several high-ranking military commanders.
A potential superproject in South Arkansas could catapult the industry in the state even further. What are the details of that project and potential? Click here to read more.